The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In general, seats installed in a vehicle can be adjusted while sliding forward and backward to match the passenger's body conditions, and an apparatus for locking the seat-rails for fixing the moved seat is installed below the seats.
FIG. 1 illustrates a “seat-rail locking apparatus” according to the prior art (i.e., Korean Patent No. 10-1294388) that is configured to include a low rail 110 that is coupled to a floor panel inside a passenger compartment, an upper rail 120 that is installed to slide along the low rail 110 while being coupled to the seat cushion frame, and a locking pin assembly 200 that restrains the free movement of the upper rail 120 relative to the low rail 110.
Further, the locking pin assembly 200 is provided with a pin member 210 through the upper end of the upper rail 120, and a lower end portion of the pin member 210 is fitted to a locking hole 111 formed in the low rail 110 to constrain the sliding movement of the upper rail 120, thereby being able to fix the forward and backward movements of the seat.
Here, a rotationally operated locking lever 300 is installed on the side surface of the upper rail 120, and the end portion of the locking lever 300 is configured to be caught in the pin member 210 protruding to the upper side of the upper rail 120.
Therefore, when rotationally operating the locking lever, while the pin member caught in the end portion of the locking lever is moved upward toward the upper portion, the lower end portion of the pin member is disengaged from the locking hole, thereby making it possible to move the seat back and forth, while allowing the sliding movement of the upper rail with respect to the low rail.
However, in the conventional seat-rail locking apparatus, since the end portion of the locking lever is located above the upper rail and the locking lever is fitted to the pin member, an amount of protrusion of the upper end of the pin member protruding to the upper side of the upper rail increases.
To solve this problem, a structure configured so that the unlocking operation of the locking lever and the pin member is performed inside the seat-rail is suggested. However, in this case, since the lower end portion of the locking pin and the end portion of the locking lever should be inserted into the seat-rail, the locking pin and the locking lever are separately assembled to the seat-rail, thereby reducing the assembling and operating convenience of the components for forming the locking apparatus.
The above-mentioned matters described as the background art are only for understanding of the background of the present disclosure, but should not be recognized as corresponding to the already known prior art to those of ordinary skill in the art.